We were invited to participate in this
event by James “Jay” G.
Harrison III, Tourism Consultant,
Stafford County
Department of Economic Development and Tourism. They
wanted our gun, caisson, and limbers with our horses.
We were able to support the event with some excellent
logistical planning and support from many of our unit
members. This was an outstanding event for the unit
members who attended 1SG Joe Slifer, SGT Stuart Brandt, SGT
Kerry Hayer, SGT John Ruf, CPL Billy Horne and Privates
Bobby Allen, Rex Kennedy and Dusty Summers. We took
our 4 horse team, plus Allen and Rebel for CPL Chris Moose
the bugler and Captain David Stanley. The Park
Officials thought they would have around 200 visitors and
had over 1000. The interface with the public was
outstanding and clearly they enjoyed seeing what our unit does
to make it unique. Here is a description of the event from
Jay Harrison III, "I am involved with the coordination of
the Grand Opening of the Stafford Civil War Park in Stafford
County, Virginia on Saturday, April 27, 2013. This is the
site of the 1863 winter encampment of the Union Army’s 11th
Corp, 1st and 3rd Divisions, following the December 1862
Battle of Fredericksburg. It was also from here on April 28,
1863 (150 years ago) that the 11th Corp marched south for
the pivotal engagement known as the Battle of
Chancellorsville. You can read more about the Park’s history
and resources online at
www.fscws.org.
The property features amazing, undisturbed artillery
emplacements, fortifications and encampment sites. I was
interested to see if your artillery living
history/reenactment group might be interested in playing a
role in the Park’s opening." Obviously we said yes and
we all had a wonderful time and got some good training time
with both the horses, drivers and canoneers. As I watched
the horses, many of them second generation to the ones that
started the unit, I was reminded of something someone had
said to me about some of our former members going away
because they didn't like working with the horses. We
probably have lost a few for this reason, but seeing them
perform this weekend as part of the Artillery Team comprised
of Man, Horse and Gun renewed my believe in us continuing to
do what we sat out to do over 15 years ago, horsedrawn
artillery!

Photos by Joe Slifer and the local Stafford County Newspaper

Updated on
12 May 2013.

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